Talking Scared

Send us a textWe’ve covered our share of plagues on this show during our all-too-real year of sitting indoors and waiting for the pandemic to sod off. Do you have the guts for one more? You should, but you may empty them.Our guest is V.L. Valentine and her debut novel The Plague Letters transports us to London in 1665. The Great Plague is scouring the population, with only the barest medical expertise to hold it at bay. Into this ghastly furnace comes a killer, hiding in plain sight.It’s a fantastic premise for a novel and Vikki does the idea great service. In this episode you’ll hear my general dislike of historical detective fiction – and how The Plague Letters is a very different beast. We also talk Ebola, c-sections, lockdown ethics, and the problem with passive characters – as well as wondering what the serial killers are doing during social distancing. This is not for the faint-hearted, or the weak of stomach. Enjoy!The Plague Letters is published by Viper Books on April 1st, 2001.Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com.Thanks to Adrian Flounders for graphic design.Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textThis is a big one. The Last House on Needless Street may be the best pure horror novel I’ve read this decade. Okay, the decade is only 3 months old, but check back with me in 9 years and I may still be saying the same.I’m delighted to speak to the author of this latter-day classic, Catriona Ward, about secrets and lies and how the hell you begin to describe a book that is one big spoiler!  Once Cat and I work out how to even talk about the novel without ruining for everyone, we then spend a happy hour navigating the nooks and crannies of the book and its titular house. We start with Ted Bundy, end with Ed Gein, and in between we cover why cats are inscrutable, how you write mental illness responsibly, and Cat tell us about the times a ghost pushed her out of bed. It’s been a long wait to discuss this book, and I’m delighted I finally can. If you have read it get in touch. I’m dying to know what other’s think. Enjoy!The Last House on Needless Street is published by in the UK on Mrch 18th by Viper Books. It will be published in North America on Septmeber 28th by Tor Nightfire.Other books discussed in this episode include: Rawblood (2015), by Catriona Ward Little Eve (2018), by Catriona Ward The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper (2019), by Hallie Rubenhold Spider (1990), by Patrick McGrath  Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com.Thanks to Adrian Flounders for graphic design.Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textOnce upon a time in a land far, far away, there was a young woman, bad men, and some homicidal mermaids. It’s fairy tale time.Our guest is Angela Slatter, who’s new novel All the Murmuring Bones turns the fairy stories that comforted you as a child, into a horrid tale of murder, inheritance, death, sex and entrapment. In this world Hansel and Gretel would be a very tasty pie-filling. Angela has spent years studying the fairy tale tradition and turning it against her readers. All the Murmuring Bones is her first full length novel taking place in the dark world he has created. This conversation is half about her book, and half about the tradition as a whole. Think of it as a compact university course without the fees, the homework or the risk of STIs. We talk about the darker versions of old tales, why all fairytales seem inherently feminist, and why they are coming back into force. I also make a big mistake about mythical creatures that makes me sound more than a little creepy, until rectified. Enjoy!All the Murmuring Bones is published by Titan Books on March 9th in Australia and North America, and on March 29th in the UK.Other books mentioned in this episode include: Sourdough and other Stories (2010), by Angela Slatter The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings (2014), by Angela Slatter The Once and Future Witches (2020), by Alex Harrow Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins (1993), by Emma Donoghue The Bloody Chamber  (1979), by Angela Carter The Faery Handbag  (2004), by Kelly Link From the Beast to the Blond: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers (1994), by Marina Warner Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com.Thanks to Adrian Flounders for graphic design.Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textIsolation is a bitch, but it could be worse!Our guest is Bethany Clift and her debut novel is  Last One at the Party – a pandemic novel that reminds you that at least we have Netflix, facetime and the chance to call our friends. Beth’s novel follows an unnamed woman, the last survivor of a global plague that has emptied out the world in just a few weeks. As she struggles through the ruins of a posta-apocalyptic Britain, she also confronts the wreckage of her life in the ‘before times’. If that all sounds dreadfully grim, and not at all what you want to read in our current plight, then remember three things: 1)     WE have a vaccine (and it’s working)2)     This book is also laugh out loud hilarious3)     There is a dog called Lucky that you will love with all your heart. Beth and I have a bit of laugh on this one – perhaps inappropriately so considering we’re discussing the end of the world – but we also cover what it’s like to actually write about Covid-19 in retrospect, why ‘stroking the dog’ is not a euphemism, but a very clever trick, and whether we still have space for apocalyptic glee in our reading.Forgive the title of the episode, all will make sense when you listen … and read the book.Enjoy! Last One at the Party was published in the UK by Hodder on 4th Feb 2021 and will be published in other territories soon.Other books discussed include: The Stand (1978), by Stephen King The Long Walk (1979), by Stephen King I Am Legend (1954), by Richard Matheson The Road (2006), by Cormac McCarthy  Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com.Thanks to Adrian Flounders for graphic design.Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textIf you’ve been homeschooling, in labour, or generally responsible for the life of a small human during lockdown, then this episode is for you. There are people out there, writers with great skill and empathy, who share your pain, and know how you feel.This week’s guest is Julia Fine, the author of Bram Stoker Award Nominated What Should Be Wild, and now the postpartum nightmare, The Upstairs House.Julia’s novel is about new motherhood, societal expectation, the horror of lost self, and ghosts. Really weird ghosts, of literary figures who demand she write their story, or else they may take her child.During our conversation we cover a whole host of things, from the lack of literary representation for postpartum sufferers, to the haunting legacy of famous children’s authors … oh, and I also inadvertently compare Julia’s child to my puppy – and I await the rage of any listeners with a new baby. But yeah, this is a good book that raises a lot of questions, and a good chat that answers some of them really well.Enjoy!The Upstairs House is published on February 23rd by Harper.Other books discussed in this episode include: The Bloody Chamber (1979), by Angela Carter The Yellow Wallpaper (1892), by Charlotte Perkings Gilman House of Leaves (2000), by Mark Z. Danielewski Fever Dream (2014), by Samantha Schweblin Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com.Thanks to Adrian Flounders for graphic design.Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textHands up who wants a holiday! Sarah Pearse’s The Sanatorium could be just the thing to purge your lockdown travel desires. It will either transport you to the ice-white peaks of the Swiss Alps, to luxuriate in the views inside your mind. Or, it’ll make you never ever want to stay in a hotel again.The Sanatorium is Sarah’s debut thriller, a novel that sits uncomfortably (in the best possible way) between crime, mystery and horror – with a hospital-cum-hotel that would rank VERY low on TripAdvisor.Cleanliness = 5*Location = 5*Facilities = 5*Chance of survival = 1*Sarah and I discuss the tussle to define a debut novel, we share stories of living in Switzerland and ponder what it is about all that beauty that chills the bone, and we pick apart the comparisons to Stephen King and Agatha Christie.The Sanatorium is published Feb 2nd in North America by Pamela Dorman and Feb 18th 2021 in the UK, by Bantam Press.Stick around after the interview to hear all the big news about what’s coming to Talked Scared later this year. I’m excited, I hope you are.Enjoy! Books discussed in this episode include: The Shining (1977), by Stephen King The Little Stranger (2009), by Sarah Waters Thin Air (2016), by Michelle Paver Dark Matter (2010), by Michelle Paver  Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com.Thanks to Adrian Flounders for graphic design.Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textHave you ever had a book scare you so much that part of you wishes you hadn’t read it? That’s the experience I had reading Gemma Files’ latest collection, In That Endlessness, Our End. I don’t know how Gemma does it, but with each story she finds a psychological pressure point that feels specifically mine, and the presses down on it hard with her pen. On more than one occasion I had to stop reading this book because it freaked me out too much. And I mean that as the highest praise.  In That Endlessness, Our End is full of stories of multimedia gone mad, sensory overload, mad gods and strange houses, and an alleyway that may take your child and give you something else in return. Gemma is a wealth of fact and opinion on horror. In our conversation we go deep, into the mechanics of horror writing as well as the inspiration behind some of the tales. We get into night terrors, how you evoke panic on the page, and how neurodiversity informs her unique brand of horror. But despite all this fear and intensity, we also have a good laugh. Gemma even takes the time to tell us as fairytale!!Enjoy!In That Endlessness, Our End is published by Grimscribe Press on 15th February 2021. Other books we mention include: The Elementals (1981), by Michael McDowell Ancient Images (1989), by Ramsey Campbell Every House is Haunted (2013), by Ian Rogers Burnt Black Suns (2014), by Simon Strantzas Grotesquerie (2020), by Richard Gavin Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com.Thanks to Adrian Flounders for graphic design.Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textWhen your guest calls herself the “Master of the Bitch” you do wonder what you’re getting into. Courtney Summers, by her own admission, wants to upset people. Yet she’s a delight! To kick of Women in Horror week we discuss her new novel, The Project, which follows a young woman as she investigates the New York based cult that has swallowed up her sister. This is FAR from your standard cult novel. As Courtney explains, she wanted to get away from the exploitation and the obvious horrors and instead consider why people search for belonging in such dark places, and whether we would be impervious to The Project’s allure. We also talk about her penchant for ‘unlikeable’ female protagonists, and whether there’s a double standard in how fiction treats challenging women. We celebrate Biden’s inauguration, I tell her about my worst ever spider encounter, and she takes me to school for dissing YA fiction. Enjoy!The Project was published by Wednesday Books on February 2nd 2021.Other books mentioned include:  Sadie (2018), by Courtney Summers Redder Days (2021), by Sue Rainsford The Children of Red Peak (2020), by Craig Di Louie The Need (2019), by Helen Phillips Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com.Thanks to Adrian Flounders for graphic design.Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textLet’s get Gothic! Our guest this week is Laura Purcell, doyenne of the dark, heiress of historical fiction (and other alliterative titles). Laura blew away the cobwebs wrapped around spooky period fiction with her breakout smash, The Silent Companions in 2017. She followed up with The Corset and Bone China and now she’s back with her newest Gothic novel, The Shape of Darkness.  The novel examines all the wrinkles and crannies in the Victorian underbelly, from spirit mediums, to mesmerism, and the uncanny art of silhouette portraits. Trust me, you’ll want one for yourself.We talk about the line between gothic and horror, why writing historical fiction can be a way to sneak your horror under the radar, and whether the stereotypes of the period make it frustrating to write about Victorian women. After all, how many times a day can a woman swoon?In an unrelated anecdote, Laura also divulges her secret terror of sloths. Oh, and I waffle on about the history of gothic fiction cos I just can’t resist lecturing people.Other books discussed include: The Residence (2020), by Andrew Pyper The Haunting of Alma Fielding (2020), by Andrew Pyper Shadowland, or Light From the Other Side (1897), by Elizabeth d’Esperance “The Blue Lenses,” in The Breaking Point (1959), by Daphne du Maurier “The Mezzotint”, “A View From A Hill” and “Oh Whistle and I’ll Come To You My Lad”, found in The Collected Ghost Stories of M.R. James  Enjoy!The Shape of Darkness was published by Raven Books on January 21st 2021.Come talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com.Thanks to Adrian Flounders for graphic design.Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textIn a week in which the White House becomes a little less orange, it’s hard to dwell on the nasty side of life. But this is Talking Scared and we can find the grim and creepy on even the most optimistic days.Our guest is C.J. Tudor – the current queen of the British thriller. She sits quite comfortably on the cusp of horror and crime, and we get into the subject of exactly where that borderline is. Her new novel, The Burning Girls continues her blending of the fast-paced American thriller, with the folk-tradition of the British horror story. A tale about a vicar, who moves with her daughter to a small Sussex town, with a terrible history of child sacrifice, and a more recent taste for murder and suicide – what’s not to like? C.J and I talk in depth about the perils of causing offence in your fiction, how to write a vicar protagonist, and what it felt like when Stephen King said he liked her book! Oh, and I may cause a bit of controversy when I give Kubrick’s adaption of The Shining a good kicking.The Burning Girls is published by Michael Joseph Books on January 21st 2021. Other books discussed include: The Chalk Man (2018), by CJ Tudor The Other People (2020), by CJ Tudor The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (2018), by Stuart Turton The Last (2019), by Hanna Jameson If It Bleeds (2020), by Stephen King The Shining (1977), by Stephen King  Come talk books with us on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com.Thanks to Adrian Flounders for graphic design.Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices